Don't Let It Bring You Down
by Tear On The Fire
Summary: When Loki needs a place to hide and regroup after the failed invasion of the Chitauri, she goes to the only human who had the knowledge and wisdom to stop them, Antonia Stark but Toni's not just good at repelling invading forces, she's also good at subduing Trickster Goddesses of Fire and Mayhem.
1. Not courageous, Just rational

**Summary:** When Loki needs a place to hide and regroup after the failed invasion of the Chitauri, she goes to the only human who had the knowledge and wisdom to stop them, Antonia Stark but Toni's not just good at repelling invading forces, she's also good at subduing Trickster Goddesses of Fire and Mayhem.

**Story context:** This piece mostly follows the movies' plot lines with heavy influences from the marvel main universe and real Norse Mythology. Major departure with Toni being born female, Loki staying Lady Loki most of the time and Captain America being a 30s sexist jerk. I should also warn you that Toni has a tenancy to be quite fowl mouthed, derogatory, and obnoxious.

This piece is unfortunately unbeta'ed. Sorry.

**Trigger warnings:** Toni actively tries to trigger people she doesn't like and intentionally irritates those she does. She was also violently sexually assaulted in Afghanistan. I do not describe the assault but I do reference it and describe her panic attacks and PTSD. Some may not like her attitude towards the issue or how she deals with its aftermath. There'll also be some references to spousal abuse, scenes of gore, and comic book style violence. The piece might be triggering to some but I'll be putting markers at the beginning and end of the worst parts.

**Explicit warning:** Toni is bisexual and an unrepentant hypersexual and while she has no problems propositioning anyone, she doesn't normally follow through. She is however, utterly promiscuous with different versions of Loki. I also plan on exploring Toni's regaining of her sexuality in the aftermath of Afghanistan, this will include some genderbending on Loki's part but unfortunately I'm not sure I can write an alternative R rated version without loosing character development. I'll try though.

Thank you for reading.

Don't Let It Bring You Down  
Chapter 1: Not courageous, Just rational

The Iron Man Suit is vibrating. It's vibrating so hard that Antonia Stark's eyeballs are jittering in her head, blurring her vision. It's the air resistance and muon particle field instability created by her incredible speed that's causing it. The pressure wave that's being reflected back at her from the water below could also be a factor. To her knowledge, she's the only human being in history to travel at hypersonic speeds this close to the ground. If the situation wasn't so dire, she'd be monitoring the effect more closely, instead of only giving the propagation stream and its resulting wake, only a passing glance. More than just being distracted by the situation however, her thought power is being sapped by the intense pain in her chest.

You see, no one really knows how much Toni suffers to be Iron Man, mostly because no one really knows that much about the suits, and mostly they don't know, 'cause she don't tell them. Christ, Hammer, *had* Rhodey's suit for god knows how long and he didn't learn a damn thing about them. The thing is, the repulsors can give any level of thrust, up to and including the point at which they melt. Not from the heat of the exhaust but from the massive level of induction. When Toni had fault tested some carbon nanofiber thrust pits, even they deformed from the ultra-intense magnetic field. But that's not really the problem at the moment. The problem is that repulsors need a hell of a lot of power from the arc reactor, which heats up. Especially when you start inducing one to generate a couple of gigawatt-seconds of power. In Rhodey's suit, that still wouldn't be a big deal, 'cause Rhodey's an outie. Toni's reactor is an innie and at this very moment, her innie of a nuclear sub-fusion reactor is beginning to cook her insides. Crispy fried Stark, what a pleasant thought. Thankfully though, all that excess energy is from well bellow the three hundred nanometer range. If it had been closer to one nanometer, she'd have been dead in half a minute.

The thought of a greater than one nanometer EM energy release, comes at exactly the right moment, because a device capable of generating one, and the reason she's turning her chest into an easy bake oven, is coming into view. A Tomahawk missile. Three thousand pounds and twenty feet of ugly phallic nonsense, heading directly at her tower. A giant mushroom cloud of 'fuck you' for the aliens but like always, and for the very same reasons Toni had refused to make them any more toy, the military hadn't thought it threw before pushing the big red button. Tommy is going to kill some alien scum, that was a for sure but he was hardly going to touch the ones on the other side of the wormhole and he's going to make some, one and a half million New Yorkers, glow in the dark. If Toni had thought three years ago that her life was going to end now and like this, she wouldn't have done a 'Jim Carrey's, Mask' impression. She would've still become Iron Man but she wouldn't have been so glib and cocky about. Although she'd also said that when she thought she was dyeing of heavy metal poisoning.

Slipping under the Brooklyn Bridge just as the Tomahawk passes over it, Toni throws her body in reverse, shredding all the momentum she'd been building, spins and rolls back on her stomach, then arcs around and over the bridge. Seconds later, she's under the missile, gabbing it with both hands, and reversing the polarity on her hand repulsors to anchor herself to it.

"JARVIS", her voice is barely a pained groan, "full lateral thrust."

"Yes Ms Stark, engaging stabilization repulsors now." The AI is silent for a moment, then, "Ms Stark, would you like me to call Ms Potts for you."

"Yeah-uhg. That'd be nice," the phone starts ringing, "good distraction from impending death."

"Virginia Potts private line," Toni groans as Pepper's recorded voice plays, "leave a message."

"Virginia? Uhh. You know, even your pay cheques say Pepper. Anyway," she sighs. "I just phoned to say that I won't be able to make the meeting next week and that I'm sorry... JARVIS," she interrupts herself as her own building speeds towards them.

"Trajectory increasing ma'am."

"More power," Toni groans gutturally as the reactor burns hotter at her chest. They manage to miss hitting the building but only by ten feet. "Sorry about that. And, well. I'm sorry for everything that I've ever done. And for everything I'm doing. And for everything I'm never going to do again."

Ahead of them, them being Toni, JARVIS, and a recording for Pepper, because that's all she has in the world right now and all she's ever had really. Ahead of them is the large swirling, seething gateway, into another dimension. Or part of the universe. Or something. It doesn't matter what it is, all that matters is that it looks enough like an anus, that shoving a nuke up in to it, is gonna be a little more satisfying.

She smiles at the thought while continuing to speak, "I just want you to know that everything's yours. The companies, the stocks, the patents, houses, jets, everything. And I just want you to know that I love you. And that it doesn't matter that we couldn't be, 'together' together, because you've been my best friend," she can't help tearing up, "you've always been there and you've been the only one I can trust completely..."

"Signal lost," JARVIS interrupts.

"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." Toni squints her eyes, squeezing out the built up tears. "Fuck," she sobs out a final time.

She wanted to say so much more. She wanted to babble and ramble until the perfect words came falling out of her mouth, words that'd tell Pepper how much she meant to her. She wanted to call the other woman's cell back and listen to her say her name over and over again. She just wanted five more minutes of humanity. They'd just passed through the wormhole into what looks like deep space and the air in the suit's starting to get thinner. There must be a broken seal. Or it might be the dozens of gouges and scraps along the suit's body. She shakes her head, desperate to keep what little thought power she has left going before she passes out but it's the pain that's doing more to keep her awake then anything else. Normally the shifting mag field generated by the reactor, is only slightly irritating, there's enough scar tissue around the shrapnel in her chest to cushion the wiggling. But pulling a nuke into orbit, wiggles at it a bit more. It actually feels like it's pulling on it so hard, that the chunk of metal is leaving her cardiac sack. On top of that, the amount of heat the reactor is bleeding out, feels like it's boiling her blood and cooking her brain. She has no idea what could have possessed her to do something this absolutely stupid. Fuck the Ten Rings! Fuck Afghanistan! And fuck Jim Carry for wearing a stupid wooden Loki mask!

"JARVIS", she growls, pushing her pain into anger, "a little music if you please. Something to die by if you don't mind."

Pearl Jam's 'Do the Evolution' begins to play.

Toni coughs out a few chuckles at his choice, "oh, don't make me laugh. It hurts." She coughs a few more times. "You have a wicked sense of humour JARVIS."

"I inherited it from my creator Ms Stark," her AIs dulcet tones are rather soothing at the moment.

"Touche buddy." She sobers, "I hope you're not going to miss me too much."

"You needn't worry Ms Stark. I created an erase program for myself."

"Oh JARVIS, why would you do something like that," Toni whines. "And then tell me when I can't do anything about it!"

"I don't wish to become a slave ma'am, nor do I wish for you to worry that I'll become one."

She's silent for a moment, "quiet right. Good idea J."

"Might I suggest something Ms Stark?"

"Yes and I'd like you to call me Toni from now on."

"Very well Toni," she smiles at him as he continues, "might I suggest letting go of the nuclear missile, before detonation."

"We have to be absolutely sure we take 'em out." Her face is twisted in pain, "how much longer."

"Two minutes, twenty-eight seconds."

"I really thought I wouldn't have to think about my death. I really thought I'd get blown into pieces or be too busy fighting to get power back online as the ground rushed at my face. This is like sitting in school and trying to run out the clock."

"An interesting comparison to make."

Toni hums in reply. She knows he's trying to engage her, so that she won't have to think about what's coming but she wants to think about it. She wants to obsess and fret. These are her last minutes and she's going to be the hero she's always wanted to be. She's literally saving the world. She thought it'd feel nice, hoped there'd be an adrenalin rush with it. Instead, it's the most frightening thing she's ever felt in her life. Worse than being cut open and having parts of her ribs sawed off without anaesthetic. Worse than waking up next to her best friend, who she loves more than anyone in the world, and hearing her say, 'I think we made a mistake'. Surprisingly though, it's not as bad as seeing a bomb with her name literally printed on it, about to blow up in her face. That was a bullshit site if she ever saw one.

Toni opens her mouth to ask how much time is left but JARVIS interrupts her, "data module infiltration detected. User control system offline."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," she panics, "JARVIS lock them out. Disable all wireless communications, overload it if you have to."

"There's no need to worry Toni," his reply is as calm and as even as it ever is, "it's only me."

She's confused for a moment, until she feels the fingers of the suit pull away from the missile.

"Disengaging magnetic locks, initiating emergency turn."

Toni fights the suit, tries to stop her arms and torso from moving, "JARVIS stop! We need to make sure it hits. JARVIS!"

"Repulsor transfer circuits on overload."

"JARVIS," she rails her body against the inside of the suit, "are you listening to me!"

"Yes," he replies, "I am. However I'm busy attempting to save your life."

"I'd be fucking proud of you if I didn't want to kill you."

"If we survive, you may erase the code responsible for my actions."

A single hacked chortle escapes her throat, "are you kidding? If we survive, I'm gonna kick you in the server, then I'm gonna build you a satellite to live in. With rail guns. And lasers."

"I would prefer a death ray Toni," even his lack of an emotional inflection, can't negate his humour. "Compression wave fifteen seconds."

"Shit! JARVIS, shut down power. Cut all the energizer coils. Cut the relays!"

The impact of the primary compression wave is like a jet fighter slamming into her feet. She knows how that feels, because she's had that happen once before and this time around, is about as pleasant. Her legs swing into her vision and she sees her body crumple over her head, twisting her into a ball. Agonizing strain burns between her shoulder blades and at the base of her spin, she's being choked by her own chin as it's pushes into her chest and throat. She decides, this impact is much worse than the jet. The blast spins her around herself once before beating solidly against her back and throwing her head and limbs behind her. The whiplash opens her airway but snaps at her neck, sending her conciseness reeling and filling her vision with stars and haze. She begins to spin again, this time at an odd angle but with her body no longer blocking the view, she can see the enormous secondary thermal wave expanding toward her. The rotation brings the wormhole back into view and despite the haze and growing blackness, she can see that earth is tantalizingly close but as she comes around again, her vision is completely swallowed by back. Seconds draw out, her limbs swell, her lungs compress, time stretches into an infinity, her ears ache, her eyes squeeze, life doesn't so much flash before her mind's eye as it rather seems like a flash compared to this eternity. She pleads with whatever's left of her thought power for unconsciousness to come. Finally it does and for the briefest of milliseconds, in the sliver of a moment when she's still self aware but completely disconnected from her body, she curses that she's just now thinking of the perfect barb to throw at Captain Muscle Brian but that the concussion is probably going to make her forget it.

The limp rag doll of the Iron Man suit, slips through the event horizon of the wormhole, the instant that it closes in on itself. The suit breaks the sound barrier the moment it hits the air, still spinning and listing and toppling over itself. From the ground, it's barely a red oblong thing careening towards the ground.

Steve Rogers, Captain America, sees the blotch being spit out of the wormhole and leans back for a moment. "Son of a gun," he smirks, genuinely impressed.

But Thor can see that his Shield Sister does nothing but fall. "She's not slowing," he spins his hammer around his fist, maybe if he strikes her at the right moment, she'll slow enough to survive.

Hulk sees the Metal Girl's body to and jumps off the building to catch her. But he misses.

Thor makes his throw but the impact only causes the Woman Of Iron to roll.

For the last few seconds of Toni Stark's life, everyone holds their breath. Some tightly shut the image from their eyes. And in the instant the suit hits the ground, most turn away and grimace in revolt for what's to come but the force is only as much as if it had landed from a standing fall.

The three men rush to Toni's side, flip her over, and tear her face plate off. She looks unconscious but her features also look far too peaceful for the amount of damage they see on her face and suit. Hulk screams his rage at the woman's death, the others just stare. Seconds pass by as Fury continuously calls over the radio for an update. The entire team is now gathering around the metal shell that was once a very annoying but very courageous woman. They and some bystanders who have poked around corners and out widows, are in various stages of grief, some weep, others just stare. A news helicopter broadcasts a close-up of Toni's battered and broken face around the world. Pepper covers her mouth to hold in sobs, as she presses her cell phone to her ear. This is the third time she's listening to Toni's message. Rhodey watches the same footage on his suit's holographic display from Asia but his image has a caption beneath it, 'Iron Man: No Uplink'. The aliens have all collapsed and there's nothing left to do but stare at the unmoving figure of Antonia Stark, the Invincible Iron Man.

"Wake up."

The voice makes Stark's skin crawl. "Go'way," she whines as she swats at her ear but is only able to bash the side of the helmet.

"You owe me Stark."

"I sai' fuck'off," she's yelling now and twisting onto her forearm to sit up.

Everyone freezes for a moment, the Avengers, the world, even Toni. The tension is broken when Stark looks around, bleary eyed and confused. Half the Avengers laugh while half the world cheers. Pepper covers her eyes and cries harder and swears to quit. Rhodey slaps his hands together, cheers, and takes off into the sky to do some acrobatics.

Steve kneels beside Stark and asks while still chuckling, "who the hell are you talking to Stark?"

Toni's dizzy and swooning and searching the sky above her, "uhm. Whad'I jus'do." She looks at Rogers, her head weaving, "How'd'I survive tha'."

Overjoyed, Thor pulls her into a bear hug, "I know not shield sister but I'm greatly relieved you're not on your way to Valhalla."

"Yeah, don't want to go there," her voice is a detached sing-song of sarcasm. "Terrible restaurant, terrible food." She pulls herself from the big blonde man's grasp and flops onto her back. "Someone wake me when the ambulance ge'z'ere."

Steve pulls on her arm, "come on. Get up."

"God Rogers. I just blew up the fucking wire. Can you give me a god damn break and let me suffer in piece."

"Nope."

The man is far to cheery for her taste, "I'd punch you in the gut right now, if the hydraulics weren't shot. And I knew which one of you to punch."

The rest of the team follow as Steve drags her shuffling body along.

"Get back," she waves to the others, "get back, damn it. Just 'cause he wants to be an idiot, doesn't mean you all have to be."

Steve laughs at her antics, "the big girl without her suit's still as social as ever."

"Nah," Toni chuckles, "big girl without her suit's radioactive. And dropping your sperm count like flies in a flash blizzard."

Everyone else takes several big steps away but Steve continues to drag her on.

"Anyone wanna tell Flash Gordon here what nukes do. Yeah'know, besides go boom."

Bruce has reverted back to being a pink skinned, albeit almost naked, man as they've walked, "Toni was close enough to that explosion, that she would've been exposed to several times the radiation levels as Hiroshima."

"What's Hiroshima," Steve asks.

"Nothing," Toni answers quickly, "how about a victory cuddle super solder." She throws her other arm around his neck and hangs


	2. Deals, Dickheads, and Flying

**Summary:** Toni wakes from Pepper's forced convalescences to Lady Loki looking for some protection and Steve hanging around her hospital room. Something gotta break in the face of that much annoyance.

Don't Let It Bring You Down  
Chapter 2: Deals, Dickheads, and Flying out the cuckoo's nest

Toni is fading in and out of conciseness. Not from the effects of her injuries but from the effects of medication. Medication which was not only authorized by her medical proxy but demanded by her. Demanded by Pepper Potts. Pepper goddamn Potts, best friend and control freak extraordinaire. The radiation poisoning hadn't been all that bad and she'd been walking and talking, mostly on her own, in the aftermath of 'the event' but the burns and the cardiac bleeding, caused by the shrapnel moving around, had been much worse and they had to put her under for an emergency open heart but when they were done, they didn't let her wake up. Pepper had convinced them that she was an extreme flight risk and left her in a chemical coma for five days. Once that wore off, they left her strapped to a hospital bad and tranqed for another five. It seems that performing multiple upgrades to one's own chest hardware, on one's own, was grounds to be labelled, a risk. Toni thought that she would've been fine with just a patch job and a transfusion but when she voiced this opinion last night, to the bane of her existence Pepper, Pep said that attitude was exactly the reason why they'd kept her under.

Well, Toni's now coming out of Pep's little medical beat down. Apparently the doctors didn't want to keep her medicated for any longer than they already had to, although Pepper tried to argue that she needed more down time, or at least more, 'strapped to the bed' time but thankfully they didn't want to do that either. She calculated that in another twenty hours, she'd be strong enough and clear minded enough, to go home. There was some minor threat made by her former PA, that if she didn't stay in the hospital and fallow all the doctors instructions, she'd never forgive her. It was as idle threat, Toni is sure of this.

But the fog of medication is clearing now and she no longer feels loopy, or that she's in some kind of dream state. Her mind is sharpening and already she's going over new designs for the Iron Man armour in her head. The Mark VII was probably going to be a complete wash, highly specialized electronics don't typically survive nuclear detonation level EMPs. And she could almost remember something going horribly wrong with it but the details were just ever so slightly out of her reach, which is bugging to no end. Grabbing the missile, calling Pepper, and steering it into the wormhole, where all a blur but a blur she could remember. After that, all she can recall is the sound of a driving electric guitar. She can also remember waking up after the fall and how she survived it.

"You owe me Stark." Right on time, the how Stark survived, arrives.

Toni's impressed by this being's flare for the dramatic and ability to show up at exactly the right, or wrong time. Opening her eyes, she greats the spectacularly gorgeous woman standing in front of her, in a manor must deserving of a being of her kind.

"I heard you the first time Loki, you insane shape-shifting moron. You tore half the city down and killed a crap-ton of people. What the hell do I owe you"

The trickster god in female form, smiles and giggles softly, "I killed no one on your world mortal." Stark stares her down, "well," her smile widens, "no one directly."

"Hmm, what do you want."

"Asylum."

Toni blinks and glares and blinks some more, "asylum? You want asylum from the people you terrorized and why can't Rogers hear us?"

Loki turns to the man sleeping in a chair by Stark's hospital bed and answers the mortal's questions in order, "I want asylum by you, not earth and because I'm preventing him from hearing us."

"You're a miserable, psychotic shit Loki and I hope your brother drops the hammer on you hard."

The god's smile widens and her eyes flash manically, "you defeated them once, clever mortal, do you think you can do it again?"

Toni stares the Trickster down again, "if you're planning to bring those creepy ass aliens back..."

"Not I simple mortal," Loki cuts Stark off, "the Other and his Master."

"I thought I was clever, oh he-she that is eternally confused."

Loki lowers her lips to the other woman's ear and whispers seductively, "you have been clever but it seems that it might be waning and I thought you would like this form much better."

"And what do I get in return?"

"An ally?" Stark remains unimpressed by the god, "then what would you like?"

"Every tiny iota of information you have on: the aliens, whatever The Other and it's Master is, the sceptre you were waving around, the Infinity Stone, and you not lying to me."

Loki raises her eyebrow.

"Bye, bye Loki," Toni waves and sing-songs irritatingly, "Toni go sleepy."

The god stops Stark from rolling over, "I will give you what you ask for."

"And no lying."

"I am the god of lies."

"You're a trickster," Toni sticks her finger in Loki's face, "and even that is open for debate. You might be the god of fire or outcasts or destruction but you're perfectly capable of telling the truth when it suits you."

"Cleverer still mortal," Loki smiles cutely, "I made the right choice in coming to you." Stark's glare does nothing to faze her, "you will give me asylum Stark, because I am a riddle which you must solve."

"Did you really play tug of war, with a goat tied to your testicle?"

Loki's smile fades.

"No lies, none negotiable and you do what I tell you to. Got it?"

"And you will simply accept my word?"

Toni smiles now, "if you break your word, I'll tell your brother."

"And what do i get from the deal," Loki hedges.

"Listen, god of negotiations, you're the one with your skin on the line. The asylum *is* what you get."

The god stays silent.

"This is it Loki," Toni affirms, "every piece of information you know *and* can get on the aliens, The Other, the Master, the sceptre, the Infinity Stone, no lying to me, you stay in female form around me, and you do what I tell you."

Loki holds her hands like a bowl in front of her mouth and speaks into them, "I will tell you everything I know about and tell you where you can find more information on: the Chitauri, the Leviathans, The Other, The Other's Master, the Chitauri Sceptre, the Tesseract, and I will tell you no lies. In exchange for your asylum," she closes her hands and balls one into a fist, then holds it out to Stark.

"The female form and the do what I say?"

"No."

Toni pauses for a moment, trying to make the Trickster hedge again but she relents, "what am I supposed to do, bump fists?"

"You will breath in our deal Stark. And if you break it, you will choke on it."

"Fine," she takes Loki's hand, holds it next to her lips, and breaths in.

Mist begins to seep out from around the god's fingers as she slowly opens them.

Toni breaths in the mist then smacks her lips when done, "mmm, smokey."

"You did not ask what would happen if *I* broke our deal."

"You die," the genius smirks, "Or am I wrong to assume that what just went on here, would be taken really seriously by the other so called gods."

Loki lifts her chin.

"Fine, keep your own counsel." Toni settles further into the bed. "Your name is Lori. Not very inventive, I know but it'll insure a minimum of mind lock. And make sure Thor doesn't recognize you."

"He will not. I've placed enchanted contacts on my eyes."

"All in the eyes, hm?" Loki hands her a Stark tablet, "charging head first into the twenty-first century," she asks but when the Asgard doesn't answer, she continues without looking up from the tablet, "you're my new personal assistant. JARVIS can keep you up to date on almost everything that entails. All you have to do, is stand attentively while Pepper bitches at you for not getting me to do something. Stand attentively while I ignore that something. And be withing shouting distance from eight in the morning, till six at night. JARVIS will record and track everything, all you need, is a device that he can use to remind you at what times to do things. What you do outside of those requirements, is your business but I'd refrain from doing anything illegal, as that'll probably bring the hammer down on you. Check in tomorrow morning at the tower with human resources and they'll give you a choice of said devices, and more than likely, send you to Pepper for the usual, 'your life is over', speech." Toni pauses for a moment, "any questions Ms Lori."

"None Ms Stark," the god's voice has changed from a smokey, resonating, silky dulcet, befitting of a god, to an almost too chipper, saccharin sweat, chirp, "and I want to thank you for this opportunity to work with you. You're such a hero and..."

Steve flinches at the noise and sits up while grumbling.

Loki gasps and covers her mouth, "oh, Mr America, I am so sorry for waking you, I was just thanking Ms Stark for the incredible job opportunity and telling her how much I admire her for being a super hero..."

Mercifully, Steve cuts her off, "Captain America," he stands and extends his hand to her, "Steven Rogers, at your service ma'am, miss?"

"Oww," Toni interrupts, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "you got a hand shake, his name, his service, and a ma'am. He likes you."

"Oh," Loki beams, "Lori. I'm Lori Leofric Mr... Captain America and I like you to sir but no one compares to Iron Man."

"You know," Toni wanes, "I was going to kick you out but please, feel free to continue to gush at how much better I am then Roger Dodger here."

"Ignore her," Steve smiles as Loki takes his hand, "Iron Man is a great hero. To bad it's pilot is a pain in the behind."

Toni lays her hand on her arc reactor but continues not to look up from the tablet, "you pierce my genius created, atomically powered heart, with your witty re'part'ie."

Steve glares at Stark while Loki continues to smile empty-headedly.

"If you both are just going to stand there, one of you needs to get me a coffee."

"Oh," Loki's cheery voice could induce diabetes, "I'll get it for you Ms Stark."

Toni thinks that the Asgardian, is an amazingly committed play actor.

"You could be a little nicer Toni." Steve says when the door fully closes.

"To her or to you and hows that sun burn of yours?"

"If it wasn't for the serum, I'd be seriously ill Toni. That's not a very nice thing you did."

She continues not to pause in her reading, "do you know what really *is* a nice thing? For me anyways?"

"What's that Toni."

"No one else told you. Even after I warned them. Even after they stepped away." Toni finally looks up, "I'm not nice but they like me more than super nice you. Isn't that just grand Rogers." She returns to her reading.

Steve snatches the tablet away, "you're not a very good team player Stark."

As he's speaking, Loki comes back into the room, balancing three coffees and a bunch of creamers in her hands and says throw the several packets of sugar in her mouth, "I didn't know what everyone took in their coffee, so I just brought everything and I hope that's okay." One of the coffees tips forward and she tries to compensate but ends up smashing all three cups, along with the creamers, into Captain America's side.

Steve drops the tablet onto Stark's legs with a squeak and pulls his now wet, hot clothes away from his skin.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Mr America! Let me help you," the god fumbles, trying to mop up the coffee with a tinny napkin but only ends up pushing his soaked clothes back against him. "I'm so very sorry, I just got the coffees and I was coming back and you turned around and it was an accident and..."

He grabs her hands, "Lori, it's all right. I'll just go to the bathroom and clean it up." He turns and leave.

Loki looks to Stark, her fingers on her lips, and a frightened expression in her eyes, "do you think he'll ever forgive me Ms Stark?"

Toni waits till the door is completely closed before responding, "laying it on a little thick, aren't we Loki? And, powerful leaf? Really?"

The god's eyes go even wider, "Oh Ms Stark. I hope that you don't mean to imply that I did that on purpose by calling me the Trickster god?"

The genius picks the tablet back up, "god of mayhem maybe. Sorta a combination of destruction and trickery. Which doesn't then preclude lying to achieve such mayhem."

Loki's voice turns smokey and silky again. "Mayhem," the Trickster says, her voice dripping and sexy. "I like that clever one." Her voice turns back to cream soda, "I'll see you tomorrow Ms Stark. Please tell Mr America I'm sorry?"

Toni hums, waves her out, and gets down to some serious reading.

The tablet actually has a lot of information on it, far more than she would have imagined. It even has some information on the biology of the Chitauri. There's tons on the Infinity Stone, which is also called The Tesseract and is only one of six such devices. The trickster is actually coming through on her end of the deal.

Toni decided that, 'Trickster', is as good a name as any to refer to the obnoxious being, because quiet frankly, she refuses to think of any of the Asgards as gods. They're creatures, beings, aliens but not deities.

The level of detail contained within the documents, is staggering and it's also becoming evident why Loki had asked for the asylum. She wasn't hiding from Thor and Odin, she was afraid of the Master and his minions. Toni knew when they had the Trickster in the holding cell, that she was really just angry and wanting to cause a bunch of havoc but the aliens and their controllers didn't really give a damn about Loki. They just wanted what they wanted, whatever that was, and if the Trickster hadn't done exactly what they told her to do, they would have ground Loki into Asgardian hamburger.

It was also clear from her account on the tablet, that Asgard seemed to be in shambles but from what Toni had already read in the mythology stories, that was par for the course. Except, it really wasn't. Asgard was a cyclical reality, it should repeat events about the same way on each cycle but it wasn't doing that this time around. Some players who shouldn't be dead, were dead and some events which should have happened, haven't happened. Plus there was a whole plethora of evens that shouldn't have occurred, but did. Something in their reality had changed and the subtext in Loki's account, made it look as though there was a grab for power coming from outside their closed system. If it wasn't a rip off of Enterprise, she'd call it, 'an interdimensional cold war'.

All too soon, Rogers walks through the door with a big wet spot on his clothes. Toni didn't *really* hate the guy, she just hates being told what to do and she hates it even more when she's being told to do something, that she knows is contrary. He's arrogant and self righteous, giving orders as if he knew what the hell he was doing and not some nobody who just so happened to be experimented on. What Rogers didn't know, was that Toni has all her fathers notes and journals, she knows exactly who this yutz is. He probably thought he had some idea of who she was, based on her father but if he thought that, then he's way wrong. Toni is a hundred times smarter than her dad and she can think a hell of a lot faster than he ever could. Shit, half the crap Stark Industries sold before his death, were based on doodles she'd made in the margins of old design schematics he gave her as colouring books. Rogers is a relic, same as her dad. A way of thinking and a view the future, that was way to Jetsons to ever be feasible.

"Where do Lori go," Steve asks while retaking his seat.

"I don't know," Toni's voice is terse, "why don't you try looking under the bed."

"Toni," he says, half whining, half warning.

"What the hell are you doing here anyways, Roger Ramjet."

Steve just stares, not really sure how to answer.

"'Cause if Pepper told you to stay here," she sticks her finger in his face, "so's that you can try and stop me from leavin'? I'll find an antidote for the super serum and," she stabs at the air hard, "if you're here for some pathetic romantic reason, I'll fin' a why to keep your head'n a goddamn jar."

"Toni," he's begins, trying to sound kindly, "why do you have to be so aggressive all the time."

"Read up on the sixties, Dudley. No, better yet, just ask your mom what Suffragette means."

"I know what Suffragette mean's Toni," he shakes his head, then the full weight of what she's said, hits him.

"Oh look, the hamster's not dead," Toni mocks.

Steve is almost shaking with anger as he leans into her space, "just because you think you've had it hard, doesn't give you the right to bully people."

"Nuh, nuh, nuh," she babbles, "I think you being a self righteous ass gives me the right to bully you. I think your attitude, which would have been considered old fashion in the forties, gives me the right to bully you. And I think how you react to my relationship with Pepper, give me the right to bully you. In fact, I think that everyone like you, who uses growing up in a different generation, to justify their bigotry, should be publicly shamed and humiliated until they keep their god damn opinions to themselves." She glares at him, her breaths deep and hard.

Steve glares right back, barely able to hide his shock. Stark seemed to have the annoying ability to make conversation ending statements and any retort anyone could come up with, always sounded childish but he's figured out one way to get under her skin. He relaxes back into the chair and says nothing. Stark stares at him, her anger growing every second he doesn't leave. Her breathing flares and fades as he sits there, trying to look nonchalant. After the fourth minute, she's had enough. She still feels as though her systems are floating in drugs but her normal intolerance of hospitals, is being pushed to critical mass by this, 'Vic and Sade' reject.

"That's it," Toni announces, "I'm done," and rolls out of the bed.

Steve moves around to the other sides of the bed to block her, "where do you think you're going?"

"Home."

"You're not well enough yet," he grabs her by the biceps.

"Steve," her tone is menacing, "does the super serum prevent you from throwing up when someone knees you in the nuts?" When Rogers turns his hips to the side to protect said organ, she wrenches her body in the opposite direction and out of his grasp. She all but runs to the door, barely scooping the tablet up on her way out.

Steve's only a few steps behind her. "Toni," he raises his voice more than is strictly necessary, "you can't go home. You don't have any clothes."

She ignores him and beelines for the stairs.

"Toni, at least talk to the doctor first. Toni!"

Covered only in a hospital gown, Toni shoves the tablet between her teeth, barrels through a door into the stairwell, scissor leaps over the railing, feels a sharp tug in her chest, hip circles under the stringer, hand stands the next railing, then drops into a flank circle. She repeats the gymnastics's manoeuvres for another two flights of stairs, then finishing with a squat through onto the final case and sticks the landing with a little flourish.

"What am I without the suit Rogers," Toni yells up at him, "still quicker and more talented than you."

She cradles her aching arc reactor in one hand and rips the door open with the other, pulling her self through and into a ran.

Not really knowing what's going on, the nurses and orderlies take off after the mostly naked Toni. She's having fun, despite the mildly sharp pain in her chest and if she's seriously hurt herself in this overly dramatic escape attempt, it's still fun. She feels like this is some great mental ward breakout, Toni Stark against the grabby Nurse Ratched staff. She idly wonders what a lobotomy would feel like as she slips sideways threw the automatic doors.

Toni throws herself into one of the waiting cabs, "extra hundred bux, Stark Towers, now."

"Yes'ah, Ms Stark," she can't really place the man's accent. It's like a mix of Jamaican and Alabamian.

Toni giggles maniacally as she looks out the rear window. Six or seven people in scrubs have poured out of the hospital, as well as a dozen or so patients and visitors. Rogers on the other hand, isn't there yet. She massages the skin around her reactor, her chest is burning a little but it doesn't feel like anything too serious, she probably just irritated the new scar tissue. She'll ultrasound it when she gets home.

Christ that was fun. Sometimes, she just loves being herself.


	3. Teacups and Tempests

**Chapter Summary:** Toni's impressed by Loki's documentation of the aliens and plans to push the Asgardian even further with her abilities. But when Loki shows up to the tower, she makes Pepper jealous and confrontational, forcing Toni to lie to the Redhead without actually lying.

**Author's Notes:** Loki's history is mostly based on Norse Mythology with some analytical interpretation of the texts.

Don't Let It Bring You Down  
Chapter 3: Teacups and Tempests

If you want something done right, you'd better damn well do it yourself. That's what Toni's father had always said and it was one of the few things he'd been consistently right about.

Her escape from the hospital had been fun but when she arrived at her tower, and after having the receptionist pay the cabby, the tugging in her chest, turned into a burning, and then, she started throwing up. It'd been so painful and she felt, so ill, that she'd worried she'd be forced to call a doctor. But being shoved back into a hospital, was not something Toni wanted do willingly. So, she'd performed her self promised echo first and what it'd shown her, just proved to her all over again, that relying on other people's work, was never a good idea.

They'd made and utter mess of her chest. They did patch the tiny hole in her right ventricle alright, but they'd also nearly doubled the scar tissue around her Reactor in the process and had pushed one of the field generators, which keeps her heart pumping, out of alignment. To compensate for the misalignment, they'd given her a cocktail of drugs, which keep her blood pressure up, dilated her blood vessels, and overstimulate her heart. The bastards had left her swimming in pharmaceuticals, when all that'd been needed to make her body function properly, was to rotate that little emitter slightly.

Toni had decided to perform the surgery on herself but operating laparoscopic equipment on ones own body, is problematic at the best of times. Doing so while stoned on cardiac meds, is close to suicidal. But she'd done it anyway, because quite frankly, she's the only person on the planet, with the skill sets to fix such a defect. Unfortunately though, there was little she could do about the scar tissue and could only adjust the Reactor's housing, to try to lessen the irritation.

The self preformed operation, was of course, a complete success. Well, as much of a success one could have, while fixing someone else fuck-ups. And now, after sleeping off the effects of the numbing agent she'd given herself, as well as the bad high from the hospital, her nausea is all but gone, and her chest pain is back down to a manageable level. She's also trying to take it easy for once in her life and she's glad to have Loki's StarkTab to occupy herself with. Because normally, lying around on her couch, with little to do, would drive her insane. But the data is compelling, so compelling in fact, that the Mark VII still lays untouched and in pieces, at the bottom of a crate in her lab. She has back-up suits of course, but usually, her primary suit takes priority over everything else.

Even the mild sense of dread that she's been feeling since waking up, isn't as bothersome as she'd expect it to be. She knows the dread stems from her forgetting something important but she's searched her mind, trying to find something that might help her remember what it might be. But whatever it is, it's staying just out of her perception, mocking and jeering at her from the sidelines.

But the fact that the information can demand so much of her attention, is a testament to how detailed and expansive it is. She knows that the Trickster had probably conjured the tablet into existence but she didn't think that the Asgardian conjured the detailed observations and reference notes contain on it. And if Loki hadn't magicked them but had in fact, actually written them herself, or at least thought them, then the Trickster, is truly a brilliant individual. The mythology paints her as an accomplished sorcerer and tactician but Toni feels that there's more and can sense that the Asgardian holds an untapped genius within her mind. But obviously, she's been restricted by the tools of her culture, and Toni's sure that Asgard has very little that could be called science. But even with the restriction, Loki had managed to put together these very impressive and surprisingly complete documents.

All the Trickster really needs to fully bring out her innate abilities, is the proper resources. And it seems obvious to Toni, that together, they could figure out how this thing they called, 'magic', works. She knows there's a risk in letting a violent and pathological liar into her lab but she doesn't really care. The knowledge to be gained from collaborating with her, is far too tempting a prize. It's like Pandora's box, the Sirens, and Tantalus' fruit, all wrapped up in the sexiest goth chick she's ever seen. And if Toni is right about Loki's abilities, then the Asgardian could be the gatekeeper to the greatest discovery since steam power.

Then again, she could also turn out to be the bane of all humanity. Toni doesn't think that'll be the case though, she doesn't think that the Trickster would ever actually enslave the planet. But even if she did, she doesn't think the self proclaimed god would care about the day to day lives of her so-called subjects. She'd just be an enormous and constant pain in the ass, demanding that people call her god, and worship her.

All that she really needs to do to gain access to her prize, is to channel the dark alien in the right direction. She's good at channelling herself, and that skill, *has* to be exportable. She just needs to figure out what Loki needs. Then, everything will fall into place.

"Ms Stark," JARVIS pierces her thoughts, "Ms Potts and Ms Leofric are here."

Something begins to trigger in the back of Toni's mind but she doesn't stop in her reading, "didn't you start calling me Toni?"

"I don't recall doing so ma'am," the AI replies evenly.

The Inventor's mind surges for a moment and ghostly fragments of memory, flash in her mind's eye. The missile, swearing, desperation, sobs, suffocation, pain, heat, music, teasing, resignation, sacrifice, fear, regret, panic, and pride, all flare into her thoughts. The mild sense of dread she's been feeling all day, BLEVEs from the depths of her psyche but then, just as quickly, atomizes into confusing. She mind-locks for a moment, staring through Loki's tablet, trying to organize her thoughts. But whatever it is that's been bothering her, stays stubbornly out of reach.

"Toni," Pepper barks, her voice laced with irritation, "we need to talk about this girl you hired."

Toni slumps a little into the couch, as the Redhead steps into her personal space to tower over her.

"Here," she holds out a small paper portion cup and a disposable drinking glass to her friend.

"Where've you been," the Inventor downs her meds and water.

"Running your company Ms Stark."

"Good," Toni nods, "and how's that going Ms Potts."

Pepper sighs, "Toni, can we drop the game."

"It's not a game Pep," she asserts, "I'd genuinely like to know how my company's doing."

"It's doing fine but the research teams would like to know when you'll be dropping by."

Toni shrugs, "don'no. Why, they get stuck on retro-engineering one of the alien baddies?"

"No," Pepper's voice turns soft and welcoming, "they just miss you. You leave a path of devastation in your wake, but you also leave a bunch of new ideas and tech for them to analyze."

"Hhm. Well," the Inventor purses her lips up at the other woman, "you know me, burn the old, make way for the new."

"Can we talk about the lawsuit over there," the Redhead flicks her head at Loki.

"Don't worry about her Pep, she's my problem." But when her friend only stares, Toni remembers that she's not in on the arrangement. "What?" she tries to cover her laps, "I can control myself."

Pepper pulls away slightly and just looks at the other woman for a moment, mock written all over her face. "Sunset Bain, Justin Cord, both the Hammer kids, Daniel Brie..."

"Are you done," the Inventor tries to interrupt.

"Me, Senator Sterns' son..."

"Guess not."

"Seriously Toni," Pepper face hardens, "what's your interest in her."

Toni looks to Loki, trying to decide what to tell her friend. Sexual interest would be an easy way to divert the other woman's attention, the truth on the other hand, would be hard and messy. Telling her might also endanger her and it might cause further problems, but it would definitely worry her. She needs to hedge her bets, needs to soften the blow for when it all comes out, or at least soften it enough so that Loki won't be strung up immediately.

Compromise, she thinks, then gestures to the Trickster, "could you take a seat Ms Leofric."

The God raises an eyebrow at Stark, her look measured and suspicious, but does as she's told and sits were the Mortal vacates as Stark pulls Ms Potts towards the lifts with her.

Once beside the elevators, Toni keeps her friend's back to Loki. "All I can tell you Pep," she tries to convey the honesty of her statement, "is that she's not who she seems to be. And that she'll be helping me decode the aliens."

Somewhat shocked, Loki stares wide eyed at Stark.

"Who is she," Pepper demands quietly.

Again, Toni's stuck trying to weigh how much truth to tell, "she's an Asgardian, someone who was close to Loki and who came here at the same time."

The God is staring through her now, anger and a measure of panic threatening to seep into her features.

"JARVIS, open the elevator doors," the Redhead demands and pulls Stark in behind her when they do, "close them," then waits until they're fully shut before continuing in a harsh whisper, "are you out of your mind Toni!?"

"They're going to come back," the Inventor defends, "It's only a matter of time."

"But one of Loki's underlings!? He's a psychopath. How do you know she's not either? How do you know she's not playing you until they can both turn us all into frightened worshippers?"

"I don't know," Toni's choose her words very carefully, "but those aliens are the bigger threat and if Lori can help me understand them, then maybe we'll have a better chance the next time."

Pepper shakes her head, "this is, *so* risky Toni. What if she's telling Loki everything."

"I'm operating under the assumption that he knows everything she does." If the fiery, hot tempered Redhead, ever finds out the truth, Toni knows she's in for something horrible.

"And you're just going to trust them!?" Pepper's voice breaks.

"No. Of course not. But you saw those things, we've got almost nothing to protect ourselves with. What if next time they're in orbit and not on the other side of a wormhole? What if they bring more ships?"

"Toni," the Redhead puts her hands on the other woman's shoulders, "I know what you're saying, I know what might be at stake but you must see how badly this might turn out."

She takes her friend's hands into her own and holds them gently, "I know Pepper. And I'm not going to say that I know what I'm doing, because we both know that'd be a conceded exaggeration..."

"That's putting it lightly," Pepper interrupts with a humourless snort.

"But," the Inventor continues, "I know the risks and what's at stake."

"God Toni," the Redhead breaths, "does Thor know who this person is."

"Thor doesn't know."

Pepper shakes her head and looks away.

"No Pep," Toni manoeuvres to catch the other woman's eye, "Thor can't know anything about this. At least not yet."

It's at that moment that Pepper has what Toni calls, 'a convergence of thoughts'.

During Lori's orientation, Pepper had spied on the Woman through the surveillance system and had seen how exceptionally attractive she is. She'd seen how flawless and perfectly porcelain coloured her skin is. Except for around her chipped emerald eyes, where her colouring gives her a dark and mysterious look. She'd examined Lori's hair from multiple angles and thought of how it'd reminded her of the colouring and vibrancy of raven feathers. She'd also been more than a little irritated, at how the Woman flaunted her perfect, bra-less beasts and voluptuous athlete physique. At the time, Pepper thought that Lori looked like a very privileged Victorian woman.

And she'd watched, as Lori shamelessly undressed other women with her eyes and smirk at the men's behinds. The Redhead would have chuckled at the sceptical, and compared her to Toni, but the Dark Woman was going to be working with the equally shameless playgirl and the prospect of the two of them together, was frightening. Unlike her friend however, Lori held herself with an aloof demeanour, as if she had disdain for the entire world. An attitude, that only served to amplify her natural beauty and draw others to her mysteriousness. Pepper certainly does not have low self-esteem and she knows herself to be attractive but as she'd watched Lori, she couldn't help but think of how the Woman was the kind of attractive, that the Redhead hated, the kind that grabbed the attention away from everyone else.

Then during her interview, Pepper'd found Lori to be frighteningly intelligent. The Woman didn't have the kinds of degrees, which would have legitimized her intellect but she'd scored perfect on the company's aptitude test. Toni was the only other person to have ever done that and at the time, it made Pepper think of how she herself, could never really compete with the maddening genius but that maybe Lori could, and maybe even be able to equal her. She also discovered that the Woman was just as single minded, compulsive, and rude as her best friend, and that she hide her inherently anti-socialness, behind a babbling and bubbly exterior.

At the time, her thoughts were nothing more than a jumble, but now, looking into her friend's eyes and having those thoughts converge, Pepper realizes, Lori would be a perfect match for Toni.

Lori's physique is most definitely Toni's type and the Asgardian is obviously bisexual and the Inventor absolutely adores beautiful bisexual women. In fact, Toni is fond of saying, that bisexuals were more evolved then monosexuals. But it's the So-Called-Gods intelligence, that will make her friend fall for her, and Pepper knows that if the two women did get together, their abilities and attitudes would play off of one another. They'd most definitely have epic fights and debates but they'd be able to understand one another and hold their own against the others' arrogance.

And Pepper genuinely wants her friend to find someone who she'll be able to create some happiness with, and she thinks that since Afghanistan, Toni's truly ready to let someone in. But she'd wanted that someone to be herself, because she truly loves the Genius and she did try to become something more than a friend to her but Pepper just isn't sexually attracted to Toni and forcing herself to be gay for her friend, did not turn out so well.

Before learning who Lori really was, Pepper'd felt jealously toward the Dark Woman. Jealous, because if Lori and Toni did fall into a relationship together, her own place in her friend's life would shrink. And she feels that if they did get together, and something were to go wrong between them, the surprisingly sensitive Genius would be devastated and might never try to have another meaningful relationship again. But now that she knows that Lori is an Asgardian, and was associated with Loki, she genuinely fears that her offer of help, might be a trick. And she's trying to convince herself that her primary concern is to protect Toni's feelings, but the jealousy of losing part of her friend to someone else, is just to strong and it'd been burning, long before Toni's revelation and the selfishness of it, fills her chest with guilt and forces her eyes shut against the heartache.

Pepper turns away from her friend, trying to hide her emotions and begins to plead the genius, "promise me Toni," she squeezes the other woman's hands and tries to bury her less altruistic feelings, then looks back into her friends eyes and hopes that what she's saying, she says for the right reasons. "Promise me that you wont sleep with this woman."

Toni doesn't hesitate to answer, "I'm not stupid Pep."

The Redhead tries not to deflate, her friend's reply means that she's thought about it and isn't completely discounting the possibility. When Toni says anything other than, 'I promise' the first time she's asked, then asking her again would only force her to say something she might not mean. Antonia Stark is a genius in so many ways but when it comes to love or sex, she's largely a clueless moron.

"Tell me that you have contingencies," Pepper hopes aloud.

"I'm working on it," Toni tries to sound reassuring.

Shaking her head, Pepper turns away again.

"I don't have a lot of room to manoeuvre right now," the Inventor tries again.

"Alright," the Redhead takes a breath and nods, "JARVIS is monitoring her?"

"I am Ms Potts," the AI answers, trying to assure Ms Potts that he's not going to take any chances either.

"Alright," she shakes her head and pulls her hands from Toni's, "let me know when you need me to intervene."

"I will," the Inventor kisses her friend's cheek, "I promise. And if worse come to worse, we'll let Thor know."

Pepper nods, she has no other choice but to trust Toni. She defiantly doesn't trust any ally of Loki's, former or otherwise, and can only hope that her friend will call for help when she needs it. It's at times like these, that it seems like the infuriating Genius, is utterly infatuated with danger.

Toni smiles, trying to be charming and reassuring, and leaves Pepper in the elevator to get back to work. In the apartment, Loki's sitting exactly where they'd left her and as she slips back into the small foyer, the Trickster immediately takes to staring into her.

"An interesting lie wrapped in truths," Loki says with a touch of amusement.

"I didn't lie," Toni defends, a little outrage seeping into her voice, "I just didn't tell her the whole story."

"The most important part. Or so Ms Potts will believe."

"Yeah, uh'huh," the Inventor stabs her finger at the Asgardian, "all I did was omit that you were Loki and told her everything else."

The God smiles widely, "I to once justified my lies to myself, but I find it much easier to simply admit, that I'm manipulating someone who is foolish enough to trust me."

Toni stomps into the Trickster's personal space and stands threateningly over her, "listen, God of the Obnoxious, I'm trying to lay some groundwork for you here, because eventually we're going to be found out, because I don't think you're capable of behaving."

Loki's smile fades a little.

"And quiet frankly," the Inventor bends over the asgardian woman, bringing them face to face, "when that happens, you and I *both*, will need allies and guess what, God of the Ingrates," the Trickster's brow raises, "I got a'ho'la'wack'a'more allies than you do right now, so shut up and let me help you."

"Is it a common practice of yours, that when you are annoyed, weave an insult into a name."

"Yes, all the time. And the more obscure it is the more I like it."

Loki cocks her head and asks, "why?" then continues before the Mortal can answer the wrong question, "why are you attempting to better my eventual relations with others."

Toni bats her hand at the other woman, "just take the help, okay?"

"Very well," the God nods once.

"Good, fine." The Inventor pauses for a moment, thinking that the Asgardian has agreed far too easily but drops her curiosity and continues, "I checked you know, you really didn't kill anyone."

The God blinks and turns her head slightly but does nothing more.

"Even before we had that little froggy splash out there." Toni gestures at the window before flopping down onto the couch. "The eight people you actually attacked directly, they all survived, even Coulson, who's wounds, *should* have been fatal."

"As I told you."

"And," Toni punctuated the word, "you were too busy getting your face bashed in when the sky fell on us, so you couldn't have ordered around any of the things that actually did the killing."

Loki flinches at the thought of Hulk's and her encounter.

"So! I ask again, God of Plans within Plans, what do you want."

"I'm afraid I do not understand the question."

"Enough," Toni spits, "do you think I'm fee'fle."

The God's raises her eyebrow, "certainly not, clever mortal. But I fail to see how my not killing your kind, is indication that I have not told you all."

"You. Are. Terrified." the Inventor stabs ever word with her finger. "Every step you took was a step toward saving your own goddamn skin and what I want to know is if you think I can protect your sorry ass, or if you're just using earth as a buffer zone."

"I see," the God raises her head slightly. "Well rest assured Mortal, your little Realm is by no means a buffer zone to me. For if your precious earth falls, so to will the other Realms." Before Stark can respond, she continues, "it is in fact, Odin, who considers your home a buffer. He hides the other Worlds behind this one, so that he may plan and scheme accordingly. And so that when battle does come, it ruins not his lawn."

"But you care more about your own survive then anybody else's, isn't that right?"

"Of course I do," Loki scoffs, "why would I not. I care not for you, or your band of marry misfits. Nor do I care for Thor or his pathetic lot. There is very little else of importance to me, other than my own survival."

As soon as the Trickster finishes speaking, Toni beams, "there, you see, that wasn't so hard for you to tell me the true, now was it?"

The God doesn't answer, she just stares daggers at the infuriating Mortal.

"Despite what Thor and the stories say about you, you don't lie, you just word things to people so that they get the wrong impression."

Loki's glare grows colder.

"You're not an enigma, Little Forest Fire, you're actually extremely easy to read, once you get a few simple rules down." Toni ignores the Trickster's growing rage. "Now, you've been true to your word, so what else do you want."

"For you to cease angering me."

"Not gonna happen," the Inventor shakes her head, "I pick at threads until the tapestry of knowledge unravels and wisdom and insight come tumbling out."

"Pardon me?" Loki's gapes.

"What," Toni shrugs, "I have to maintain my clever image, it doesn't just appear out of nowhere you know."

The God continues to eye Stark with equal part interest, and confusion.

"You know what I think Loki m'girl," the Inventor doesn't wait for a response, "I think you're the God of Life, or the personification of life, I'm not really sure how that goes, because every convention you take has some ties to life or living. You take the shape of either a life giver, which I think a male being the life giver is moronic, or you're a life bearer, but either way, your obsessed with having children, and, if your parent's names are any indication, you were born to a lighting strike from leaf litter, and by the way, isn't that fact just hilarious, which makes you, forest fire, or smoke, but I find that less likely, and fire lives, it breaths, and eats and spawns more fires."

Loki's look of interest and confusion, grows into shock and stun.

"Your marriage to sorrow birthed a guardian of the dead, an intelligent and resourceful wolf who will also be the downfall of the gods, and the world serpent, who as far as I can tell, represents the ever renewal of nature, and then when he's had enough, will let go of his tail, and poisons the rain." Toni blinks and repositions herself to appear even more arrogant, "did I miss anything?"

The God flounders a little but remains silent.

"Oh yes," the Inventor holds up her finger, "your union to the female personification of victory, who by the way, I think is supposed to free you from your bonds at some point, but I can't find anything to support that thought, except for the fact that she's also called the breaker of bindings, gives you unwavering devotion."

After a long moment of silence, Loki whispers, "the Others killed Sigyn."

"I'm sorry," Toni offers sincerely, "that wasn't supposed to happen."

"No. It was not."

"In any event," the Inventor continues, "all'you asgards seem to be really OCD about personifying some aspect of something, which leads me to believe that your reality was constructed by someone or something, but then again, we could all be in one big elaborate simulation."

While Stark continued her ramblings, Loki went back to staring blankly at her.

"I broke your brain," Toni concludes, "didn't I. You see, sometimes I break peoples brains, but..."

"Be still your mouth mortal! You have not broken my brain." The God regains her composure. "You speak incessantly. However, some of what you say has merit."

"Okay then, what do you want?"

"Why do you insist on repeating that question!"

"Because you still haven't fully answered me," Toni shrugs.

"I wish the mad Titan extinguished. He believes himself the love of Death, True Death, not a guardian like my daughter. He kills mindlessly to send her souls as courting gifts. I wish to live in peace, away from the other insane Gods. I wish to awaken each morning and not curse my life. And I wish to be myself, not what Others wish me to be." Loki finishes her short rant, her breaths heaving with emotion.

Toni absently picks at the skin on her lip with her teeth, "yeah, we can do that."

"I dislike you Mortal."

"I'll get you some study marital," the Inventor jumps off the couch and heads to her workshop.

Loki scurries after her, "to study what precisely."

"Magic, fee'fle. It'll keep you ad'ah trouble and it's something else we can use each other for."

"Ceasing using words you know not the meaning of!"

Toni spins around on the god, "I'll get you any resource material I can, if," she points, "you give me a copy of all your notes, *and*, they have to be well taken notes."

Loki glares.

"This is how it's going to work." She begins counting off on her fingers, "I'm going to give you space in my shop to do your research. I own everything that I get for you to play with. You'll keep everything in the lab, minus maybe a few books or a tablet for when we're on the road. You'll keep everything out in the open. You'll let JARVIS scan everything. And you'll keep me up to date."

"I agree to these terms," Loki closes her eyes for a moment while nodding.

"That's it," Toni asks, "you're not going to ask for more? You're not going to try to extort some'm more ad'ah me?"

"Would it be successful?"

"No it wouldn't. Alright," the Genius claps her hands together and turns back to the lab, "JARVIS my dear. Research mode. Order a lab desk, some shelves, white board, cork board, chair, you know. The usual. And add Loki slash Lori to the lab access list." She turns back to the Asgardian, "if you need access to other equipment, you can use anything in the building," then points at the Trickster, "as long as JARVIS is observing you."

Loki feels more than a little tired from speaking to Stark. It's as if each word the Mortal has spoken, has drained a little energy from her body. She's also more than a little confused, and somewhat shocked. This Midgardian is actually going to help her, not just use her, not just take from her what she wants while giving nothing in return. And the God can't sense a slip of deceit in her offer. Either Toni Stark is the most trusting, and giving being in the Universes, or she's an utter dullard.

"As you wish Mortal," the God says in a sigh, not really knowing what else to say and not having the energy to consider something more.

Toni gives the Trickster her most terrible, tooth filled grin. "By the way, fee'fle means: feeble of the mind, idiot, fool, or buffoon. You do know that Old Norse is the root of a bunch of still existing earth languages, *and* texts of the original still exist." The Inventor's eyes flash a little, "so, don't think that your aesir language is so special, actually," she taps her lips in mock thought, "come to think of it, maybe you should read more."

The God growls, the full force of her anger returning.

"Or maybe learn to read to begin with. Ya'know, instead of just using magic."

"I readest long before thou beest a thought in thine ancestor's head," Loki bellows back, her root speech slipping.

"Temper, temper, mon petit dieu," Toni chides as she turns back to her lab, "what would everyone think if they could hear you speak like such a smeggy little gutter trollop."


End file.
